To our far away readers,
I write to tell you we do more than survive here -- we flourish. Tucked away in the nooks of the mountains, we do not witness life -- we live it. Untouched by the dust of society’s mistakes, we look at the land with a clear eye. As we grasp each other’s hands and raise our voices in unison, we bow our heads in thanks to the gifts the earth has given us.
The snow here comes in thick layers, frosting the ground in a creamy blanket. It falls from the sky in the numbers of a child’s wishes, putting the grass to sleep. We awoke this morning to a new layer, and were soon put to work. By 6:15am we all were shoveling roofs, snowshoeing paths, sweeping the solar panels, and packing down trails. After our early start, we jumped right back into our regular chores.
With all the work we do throughout the day, mealtime is no small dish. Piling around steaming pots and pans, we eagerly hold out our bowls for the long anticipated serving -- thick soup filled with carrots and potatoes, seasoned with rosemary and thyme, and an abundance of creamy kasha with melted cheese and garlic. We are so lucky to always have a hot meal in our bowls. We never have to think twice about tomorrow’s meal because we know it will always be there. Here we take the time to remember this.
Counting down the days till we set out feels like we’ll never have enough time to finish our preparation. Project after project is presented to us, and very rarely do we find ourselves with a moment to rest. Everyone is busy finishing their knives and sewing the leather sheaths for them. We all must wax our ski boots four times to cover them completely to get a thorough waterproofing. We must also wax our skis a few times so that they get maximum glide in the snow. Among all of these projects we must find time to write all of our academic assignments. Each of us has been assigned a book about an expedition and we will all be reading them and presenting them to the group. Our schedules are filled with hub bustle, and every time we prepare to check a project off the list, we are given another. As the last of us finished stitching up our mitten shells, we dived into the next sewing project. Jane Barron has come from Maine to teach us to sew our anoraks. We started today and soon we were on our way to making the front pocket with a zipper. For the next four days we will be piecing together the very coat that will travel with us the whole way, sheltering us from wind and snow. The feeling we will achieve from making these ourselves, with our own hands, will be one of great accomplishment.
Amongst all these projects here at Kroka, we are still spending time to learn from many different teachers on many different subjects. This week, Dick Boisvert, an archaeologist, came and gave a presentation about his work in New Hampshire. He spoke of the cultural/temporal periods and how to identity which period an artifact came from. There are four periods. The Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, the Woodland, and the Historic. He has found remains from each period. Stone is the most common type of artifact you’ll find because it lasts longer then any other material. He spoke to us for a while and answered all our questions. He also runs a program for students 16 and older to help him in his line of work, and offered any of us a position. We were lucky to have him.
We also took a field trip to the home of an old-time Marlow citizen named Charlie Strickland. He told us all about the history of Marlow, and how much it has changed over the course of his lifetime. Charlie spoke of the time when gas was 20 cents a gallon, and when the forest fire of 1941 burnt over half of the town of Marlow and heavily damaged surrounding towns. It was fascinating to view history from the vantage point of someone who had lived through the decades and whose memory served him so well. No textbook could ever provide the historical details he bestowed on us.
Standing from left to right: Yarrow, Noah, Iyla, Scott, Eliot, Ari, Erica, Paul, Martin, Mistral, Oliver; front: Charlie, Melody and Anne. Missing: Anna and Kendra.
Life here continues on with the swiftness of the wind and its lonesome whistle. Each morning we are greeted with peeking tips of father Sun and his radiating warmth, and every night I look up at the stars, with their flickering drops of dew light, reflecting back at me a dream far bigger than this world. As I look up with hope, I know “every little things gonna be alright.” Bob Marley
Devotedly Yours,
Iyla Therese
Kendra would like to wish Anna a happy birthday.
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